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A Game Of Products…

Marketing in general, is a very vast topic. Let us go through certain aspects like ‘product’ and ‘brand’

Product:

‘…A product is a good, service or idea consisting of a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes that satisfies consumers and is received in exchange for money or some other unit of value..’
Simply speaking, everything that we buy, from wrist watches to deodorants, from a four wheeler to a pack of chips is called a product (or good/s).

Product is the most direct way that a company can serve their consumers. But there still is a term called (Customer) service. As similar as the two words: Goods and Service may sound, they differ in many ways. A good is a tangible output of a process, having fixed physical dimension; its physical presence can be felt. A service is an intangible process, and can’t be physically present. A service needs some form of an interaction with the respective consumer, whereas a good doesn’t require interaction; it simply is sold. Also, services, unlike goods, are perishable and time dependent.
Combining these aspects, a BRAND is formed.

‘A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service, or concept.’ A brand uses a unique name, a unique logo with different colors so that communicating the idea becomes visually simpler.

Not just this, there are lot of other benefits of branding. It helps identify company ownership, decreases perceived risk as the quality is predictable and serves as a status symbol.

Brands also help induce customer loyalty, and allow a single firm to pursue multiple targets, thus proving advantageous to the company. It’s been observed that people, who get comfortable/acquainted with a particular brand of their choice, continue to get services from them for a long time, instead of changing preferences again and again.

Branding is one sure shot way of increasing consumer base and increasing consumer satisfaction. Hence, it requires a proper plan of action and different strategies. There are methods like the Umbrella approach or the house of brands approach, which include associating the same brand name to products or introducing a new brand name to every other product, respectively.

This being done is not enough for the brand to keep flourishing. As the saying goes, Change is the only constant. The only way to make sure that consumers are engaged to one particular brand is to make changes, i.e. introducing a new product or this being simply put: improve products.

This is to make sure that the brand name stays afresh in the market, or that the brand is adaptive to change and provides timely upgrades to its loyal consumers.
Though not entirely linear, the process of developing a new product is a step by step process which involves an idea generation, estimating its market potential, testing and feedback, and finally rolling it out into the market.
Developing a new product makes sure that there are various options available for the consumers at all times, and at the same time, the brand name is taken care of. Sort of a win-win for both, the company and its consumers.
There’s a theory known as the Product life cycle theory, which helps predict the life cycle of a certain product, and also to chalk out plans to introduce a new product.

Apple introduced its first i-pod in the early 2000’s. Since then, apple kept on releasing similar products like the i-Pod mini, i-Pod shuffle, i-Touch etc. This was when the product had achieved maximum growth and maturity. After 2010, these i-Pods were replaced by smart phones and tablets, marking the decline of tq2he i-Pod. This was its life cycle in a nutshell.